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At East High, parade tradition marches on

Request to buy this photoERIC ALBRECHT | DISPATCH PHOTOSEast High School dancers, cheerleaders and band march along Greenway Avenue on their way to Harley Field Stadium. Last night’s pre-homecoming-game march continues a tradition that stretches back generations, but has dwindled in recent years.

Request to buy this photoEast alumnae Karen Brown, left, and Demaria Harris watch the marchers pass by. The band parades through the neighborhood twice a year.

Request to buy this photoTHE COLUMBUS DISPATCHClass of 2007 drum major Nicholas Bankston leads other alumni drum majors and the band to the stadium. Many band members have gone on to march in college.

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Dozens of spectators followed a procession of cheerleaders, dancers and band members decked out
in orange and black uniforms as they made their way down Greenway Avenue last night.

It was East High School’s homecoming game, but some of those standing near the field weren’t
there for the football.

The high-school marching band was continuing its tradition of marching from the school on the
Near East Side to Harley Field, about a mile away.

For decades, the band snaked through the neighborhood before every home football game, bringing
residents from their homes to cheer or join in the trip. Generations grew up with it, said Adah
Emory, 57, who graduated from East High School in 1973.

“When we were kids, we would run to the corner because we knew the band was playing,” she said. “
That was one of the things that made me want to march in the band. … We don’t want this tradition
to ever go away.”But for the past two years, the marches have been reduced to twice a football
season. Exactly why, though, is unclear.

News of the band’s change in schedule was brought to the attention of some alumni on Facebook in
August. Those postings said the band was now required to have a permit to march through the street,
and the cost was too much for the school to bear.

“An older alumnus who’s out of state happened to mention on Facebook that East wasn’t marching
anymore, and he wanted to know why,” said Columbus Police Officer Rita Green, who works in the
Division’s special-events unit.

“Someone else said they don’t have the money for it. … There are so many different stories going
out there.”

Apparently, the band’s lack of a parade permit came to the attention of Columbus police a couple
of years ago, when some residents reported the oversight to police.

“This school went unnoticed for such a long time,” said Amanda Ford, the city’s assistant
director of public safety. “I don’t think they were aware that they needed a permit.”

Over the years that the band marched without a permit, police officers working the games
typically assisted the band in clearing the street, said police Lt. Karl Barth.

“That shouldn’t have happened,” he said.

The permit costs $110 each time the band does the march, Barth said. The school has been paying
that for the past few years.

But a spokesman for the school district said that the reduced marching schedule wasn’t caused by
the permit costs.

“We’ve chosen to move to a two-parade decision because of student safety,” said Jeff Warner, a
spokesman for Columbus City Schools.

“Times have changed. … We believe that two parades per year is a good position for us. It’s
keeping in mind that there are a lot of students, and marching through the streets isn’t the safest
thing in the world.”

“The community is disappointed,” said Corey Stevens, East High band director.

Tatum Brice, 32, who graduated from East High School in 1998, said being a part of the marching
band led him to Central State University because he wanted to march for a college band after doing
it in high school.

“We’ve been born into this,” he said. “As a kid, you think, ‘One day, I’ll get to do this.’"

Pamela Engel is a fellow in Ohio University’s E.W. Scripps School of Journalism Statehouse News
Bureau.